By Patrick Fearon
FREEPORT, Bahamas--Regional director Charles Fleming oversees the multi-ethnic, multilingual region comprising the islands of the Caribbean and the countries of Latin America, from his home office in Coral Springs, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale.
The Worldwide Church of God has about 2,800 members in 74 churches in 31 countries in the region. The dominant languages are English in the Caribbean and Spanish in Latin America. Members in Brazil speak Portuguese.
The French-speaking areas in the region are coordinated by John Halford, European regional director.
Of the 31 countries, only 11 have full-time ministers. The remaining are served by nonsalaried personnel. Much emphasis is placed on developing leaders to serve each congregation.
Men, women and children throughout the region are committed to the task of making a difference for the kingdom of God. Small groups, prayer teams, worship teams, women's and children's ministries, and community outreach groups are bearing fruit throughout our congregations.
This region now has its own edition of The Worldwide News for the English-speaking countries, and Verdad y Vida (Truth and Life) and El Noticiero (The Worldwide News) for the Spanish-speaking areas. The congregation in Nassau, Bahamas, has acquired its own church building.
From Sunday, July 13, through Thursday, July 17, we conducted a regional conference for about 160 people from 22 countries representing Spanish-, French-, Dutch- and English-speaking areas.
Joseph and Tammy Tkach attended and, between them, conducted many of the sessions.
Mr. Tkach spoke on vision and prayer. He also conducted an interactive discussion on conference expectations and a question and answer session.
Mrs. Tkach gave a lecture and conducted two workshops on women's ministry.
Karl Moore of Oxford University gave a presentation on the changing face of organizations, and conducted a workshop on team ministry.
Carlos Espinosa, pastor of the Buenos Aires and Ezeiza, Argentina, churches, gave a workshop on children's ministry. Mr. Espinosa and his assistant, Julio Fernandez, have an effective children's ministry in their area.
Charles and Keisha Taylor, who pastor the Miami, Florida, congregations, led daily half-hour worship services. The Taylors led those in attendance in a blend of traditional and contemporary songs and hymns partially in Spanish and French. All had an opportunity to sing in their heart language. Many worshiped God in a new way, and with a deeper level of intimacy.
Mr. Fleming conducted a workshop on connecting more intimately with Jesus, moving from head knowledge of, to heart relationship with Christ.
The climax was the commissioning service. The full-time pastors were recommissioned to serve as ministers of the new covenant, after which six nonsalaried pastors were commissioned.
The conference had joyous moments of communion with God as attendees prayed with one another and for one another. Openness and sincerity prevailed throughout the conference.
Mr. Fleming encouraged pastors to be agents of revival, paving the way for revival in their congregations.
1. Pray for yieldedness as Christ leads us into revival in the congregations in this region.
2. Pray that we have success as men, women and children who are coming together as a community and as a region to make an everlasting difference for the kingdom of God.
3. Pray for the success of the new regionalized edition of The Worldwide News and El Noticiero, as well as for the evangelistic efforts to be made with the British-Caribbean edition of the magazine and Verdad y Vida.
4. Please pray for the complete recovery of Jose Marie Rodriguez, a deacon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and his wife, Helliette.
Sept. 16, 1997, WN, page 10
| WCG Home | Issues | Contents |
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God,1997